Church of Hawaii
Encyclopedia
National church
National church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism....
of the Kingdom of Hawaii
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
and a member of the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
from 1862 to 1893.
History
As a young prince, King Kamehameha IVKamehameha IV
Kamehameha IV, born Alexander Iolani Liholiho Keawenui , reigned as the fourth king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from January 11, 1855 to November 30, 1863.-Early life:...
had visited England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and was impressed by the rich ceremony of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, compared to the dour simplicity of the American missionaries who educated him as a child. His queen consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
Queen Emma
Queen Emma of Hawaii
Queen Consort Emma Kalanikaumakaamano Kaleleonālani Naea Rooke of Hawaii was queen consort of King Kamehameha IV from 1856 to his death in 1863. She ran for ruling monarch against King David Kalākaua but was defeated....
had a British grandfather and was brought up in a house of an Anglican British doctor. Their 1856 wedding ceremony included Anglican prayers, but had to be performed by the Congregationalist minister.
In 1859 Emma wrote to Queen Victoria of the U.K.
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
to request a clergyman from the English church. The King's foreign minister Robert Crichton Wyllie
Robert Crichton Wyllie
Robert Crichton Wyllie was a Scottish physician and businessman. He also served two decades as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Early life:...
also made requests through diplomatic contacts. In 1860 Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...
suggested expanding the mission to include a Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
who could organize a new branch. William Ingraham Kip
William Ingraham Kip
William Ingraham Kip was an American Protestant Episcopal bishop.-Early life:Kip was born in New York City, of Breton ancestry, the son of Leonard Kip and Maria Kip. He graduated at Yale in 1831. After briefly studying law, Kip turned to a clerical calling and graduated from the General...
of the American Episcopal Church in California also supported the idea, but the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
prevented any help from them. The idea was approved by Archbishop of Canterbury John B. Sumner
John Bird Sumner
John Bird Sumner was a bishop in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury.-Life:Sumner was the elder brother of Bishop Charles Richard Sumner. He was born at Kenilworth, Warwickshire and educated at Eton College and Cambridge University. In 1802 he became a master at Eton and was...
and British Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
. The first Bishop was Thomas Nettleship Staley
Thomas Nettleship Staley
Thomas Nettleship Staley was a British bishop of the Church of England and the first Anglican bishop of the Church of Hawaii.-Life:Thomas Nettleship Staley was born 17 January 1823 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England...
, consecrated on December 15, 1861.
The sending of Staley caused friction with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
even before he arrived in 1862; making him a Bishop bothered the Calvinists who disliked any kind of religious hierarchy. Rufus Anderson
Rufus Anderson
Rufus Anderson was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.-Life:Rufus Anderson was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on August 17, 1796. His father, also named Rufus Anderson, was Congregationalist pastor of the church in North Yarmouth. His mother was Hannah...
of the American Board became a fierce critic, accusing him of ritualism. The officially chartered name of "Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church" provoked criticism as papist
Papist
Papist is a term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
After Kamehameha IV died, an elaborate funeral service was held that was compared to a Pontifical High Mass
Pontifical High Mass
In the context of the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Catholic Church, a Pontifical High Mass, also called Solemn Pontifical Mass, is a Solemn or High Mass celebrated by a bishop using certain prescribed ceremonies. The term is also used among Anglo-Catholic Anglicans.-Origins:In the early Church,...
.
The Church of Hawaii became the official royal church, with land donated from the royal family's holdings, not the government. Emma was baptized, followed by a young David Kalākaua
Kalakaua
Kalākaua, born David Laamea Kamanakapuu Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua and sometimes called The Merrie Monarch , was the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawaii...
who would later also become king. The Royal Mausoleum
Royal Mausoleum
-Mausoleums around the World:*Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii*Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania* Royal Mausoleum in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, Czech republic: burial place of emperors Ferdinand I and Maximilian II and empress Anna of Bohemia and Hungary....
was built with a private chapel, which contrasted to the simple unadorned graveyards preferred by earlier missionaries. Observance of the holidays of Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
was begun. Since Kamehameha IV had died on the feast of Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
, the first cathedral constructed in Hawaii by his brother the new King Kamehameha V
Kamehameha V
aloghaKamehameha V , born as Lot Kapuāiwa, reigned as monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1863 to 1872. His motto was "Onipa`a": immovable, firm, steadfast or determined; he worked diligently for his people and kingdom and was described as the last great traditional chief...
was called the Saint Andrew's Cathedral
Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, Honolulu
The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, also commonly known as St. Andrew's Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church in the United States located in the State of Hawaii...
. The cornerstone was laid in 1867, and it became the official residence of the bishop. Two associated schools were also started: Saint Andrew's Priory School for Girls
Saint Andrew's Priory School for Girls
St. Andrew's Priory School is a private all-girls college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1867 by Queen Emma Kaleleonālani, wife of King Kamehameha IV, the school enrolls students in kindergarten through grade 12. The enrollment is 550, with a student-teacher ratio of 8 to 1. ...
, and a boys' school named for Saint Alban
Saint Alban
Saint Alban was the first British Christian martyr. Along with his fellow saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three martyrs remembered from Roman Britain. Alban is listed in the Church of England calendar for 22 June and he continues to be venerated in the Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox...
, which eventually became part of Iolani School
Iolani School
Iolani School, located at 563 Kamoku Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a private coeducational college preparatory school serving over 1,800 students. Founded in 1863 by Father William R. Scott, it was the principal school of the former Anglican Church of Hawaii. It was patronized by Kamehameha IV...
. Staley was even attacked by American writer Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
and others whom he called "Puritans".
After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893 and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
in 1898, the Church of Hawaii was dissolved and became the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii
Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii
The Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii is the ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Episcopal Church of the Anglican Communion in the United States encompassing the state of Hawaii...
as territorial jurisdiction was transferred to the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.